When the civil war broke out no one did more than he to solidify the North in defence of the Government. He it was who said that all parties and all platforms must be subordinated to the defence of the Government against unprovoked assault. [A voice, "That's just what he said!">[ In the war with Mexico, as a member of the First Illinois Regiment, and afterwards as the commander of the Thirty-first Illinois in the civil war, he gave a conspicuous example of what an untrained citizen could do in the time of public peril. In the early fight at Donelson he, with the First Illinois Brigade, successfully resisted the desperate assaults that were made upon his line; twice wounded, he yet refused to leave the field. The courage of that gallant brigade called forth from a Massachusetts poet the familiar lines:
"Thy proudest mother's eyelids fill,
As dares her gallant boy,
And Plymouth Rock and Bunker Hill
Yearn to thee, Illinois."
[Applause.] He commanded successively brigades, divisions, corps and armies, and fought them with unvarying success. I greet these veterans of the campaign of 1840. You recall the pioneer days, the log cabin days of the West, the days when muddy highways were the only avenues of travel and commerce. You have seen a marvellous development. The State of your adoption has become a mighty commonwealth; you have seen it crossed and recrossed by railroads, bringing all your farms into easy communication with distant markets; you have seen the schoolhouse and church brought into every neighborhood; you have seen this country rocked in the cradle of war; you have seen it emerge from that dreadful trial and enter upon an era of prosperity that seems to surpass all that had gone before.
To these young men who will, for the first time this year, take part as citizens in determining a presidential election, I suggest that you have become members of a party of precious memories. There has been nothing in the history of the Republican party, nothing in the platform of principles that it has proclaimed, that is not calculated to stir the high impulses of your young hearts. The Republican party has walked upon high paths. It has set before it ever the maintenance of the Union, the honor of its flag, and the prosperity of our people. It has been an American party [great cheering] in that it has set American interests always to the front.
My friends of the colored organization, I greet you as Republicans to-day. I recall the time when you were disfranchised; when your race were slaves; when the doors of our institutions of learning were closed against you, and even admittance to many of our Northern States was denied you. You have read the story of your disfranchisement, of the restoration to you of the common rights of men. Read it again; read the story of the bitter and bigoted opposition that every statute and constitutional amendment framed for your benefit encountered. What party befriended you when you needed friends? What party has stood always as an obstruction to the development and enlargement of your rights as citizens? When you have studied these questions well you will be able to determine not only where your gratitude is due, but where the hopes of your race lie. [Cheers.]
[INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 26.]
From Clay County, Indiana, came three thousand coal-miners and others, this day, under the auspices of the Harrison Miners' Club of Brazil. Their parade, with dozens of unique banners and devices, was one of the most imposing of the campaign. Prominent in the delegation were Dr. Joseph C. Gifford, L. A. Wolfe, Jacob Herr, P. H. Penna, John F. Perry, C. P. Eppert, E. C. Callihan, W. H. Lowery, Rev. John Cox, A. F. Bridges, William Sporr, Carl Thomas, Geo. F. Fuller, John Gibbons, Sam'l Blair, Thomas Washington, and Judge Coffey of Brazil. Major William Carter and Edward Wilton, a miner, delivered addresses; Rob't L. McCowan spoke for the colored members of the delegation. General Harrison, in response, said:
Gentlemen and Friends from Clay County—I thank you for this enthusiastic demonstration of your interest. I am glad to be assured by those who have spoken for you to-day that you have brought here, and desire to evidence, some personal respect for me; but this demonstration has relation, I am sure, rather to principles than to men. You come as representatives of the diversified interests of your county. You are fortunate in already possessing diversified industries. You have not only agriculture, but the mine and factory which provide a home market for the products of your farms. You come here, as I understand, from all these pursuits, to declare that in your opinion your interests, as farmers, as miners, as mechanics, as tradesmen, are identified with the maintenance of the doctrine of protection to American industries, and the preservation of the American market for American products. [Cheers.] Some resort to statistics to show that the condition of the American workman is better than that of the workman of any other country. I do not care now to deal with statistics. One fact is enough for me. The tide of emigration from all European countries has been and is towards our shores. The gates of Castle Garden swing inward. They do not swing outward to any American laborer seeking a better country than this. [Cries of "Never!">[